PLATTSBURGH — A SkyWest/United Express plane was damaged at Plattsburgh International Airport Wednesday morning after a mechanical malfunction caused it to come into contact with a jet bridge.

"The most important takeaway from this is that no one was injured," Airport Manager Chris Kreig said. "The passengers were able to get off the airplane and they’ve been all re-accommodated by the airline."

A jet bridge is an enclosed walkway passengers use to board or disembark from airplanes.

Kreig said the flight, which was set to depart for Dulles International Airport at 5:45 a.m., was getting ready to leave the gate area and taxi out for takeoff when the incident occurred.

Airport firefighters with support from the Clinton County Sheriff's Department and South Plattsburgh Volunteer Fire Department responded. Kreig noted that no fire resulted.

"We train for these types of events," he said. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do, what they’re trained to do."

He said he has been in contact with SkyWest and that both the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates such accidents, and the Federal Aviation Administration had been notified.

Kreig confirmed the aircraft remained at the Plattsburgh airport as of noon, but deferred a question on whether it was out of commission to SkyWest.

He did not know how many passengers were on board, deferring that to SkyWest as well.

According to the airport's website, only that morning flight to Dulles had been delayed.

Email Cara Chapman:

[email protected]

Twitter: @PPR_carachapman

———

©2020 the Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, N.Y.)

Visit the Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) at pressrepublican.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.